It sounds as though Luke Skywalker has retreated to an ancient Jedi site in an attempt to hide from Kylo Ren and other nefarious forces who may want to find him. But it begs the question – why the ruins of the first Jedi temple?

After all, he’s not exactly fond of the Jedi anymore.

“The fact that Luke says, ‘I only know one truth. It’s time for the Jedi to end…’ I mean, that’s a pretty amazing statement for someone who was the symbol of hope and optimism in the original films,” says Mark Hamill. “When I first read it, my jaw dropped.”

“What would make someone that alienated from his original convictions? That’s not something that you can just make up in an afternoon, and I really struggled with this thing.”

It certainly sounds as though Rey is fighting an uphill battle.

Luke Skywalker is in hiding. He didn’t want to be found.

Now, it’s up to Rey to bring him back to the fight… and it’s not going to be easy.

“Oh my God, this other man that I lost within a couple days was somewhat of a father figure,” she says of Han Solo. “Now he’s gone, and instead I’m with this grumpy guy on an island who doesn’t want me here.”

Rey finds the ruins of the first Jedi Temple – Credit: EW

“I don’t think one girl, who he doesn’t know, turning up with a lightsaber is gonna make him go, ‘Oh, s—, yeah, of course I’ll get back into the action,’” says Ridley. But she might make a difference, yet. “She’s so hopeful to everything,” Ridley says. “And obviously there’s a hint of, ‘What the hell?’”

But why is Luke hiding out on an island?

Obviously, his connection to the Force is legendary. He knows there’s trouble. He’s not the kind of Jedi to run away from that… and with his friends and family in danger, he remains on that island.

But why?

“[Luke] made a huge mistake in thinking that his nephew was the chosen one, so he invested everything he had in Kylo, much like Obi-Wan did with my character,” Hamill says. “And he is betrayed, with tragic consequences. Luke feels responsible for that. That’s the primary obstacle he has to rejoining the world and his place in the Jedi hierarchy, you know? It’s that guilt, that feeling that it’s his fault, that he didn’t detect the darkness in him until it was too late.”

Obviously, there are even bigger questions yet to be answered.

Most importantly – who is Rey? Where did she come from?

The folks at EW certainly hint that we’re going to find out… but it may not be that simple.

“Does he not know her?” asks Hamill.

It’s been a long-standing question for ‘Star Wars’ fans – does Luke Skywalker know who Rey really she is? Could he even be her father? It sounds as though we might finally get an answer in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’.

“A big part of Rey’s future will be uncovering her own past,” says EW. “Who is connected to her? Where did she come from? And why was she cast away? As she tries to pick up her own pieces, she may find they fit together well with the remnants of Luke Skywalker. Working together, they may become whole again.”